College of Charleston 57, Elon 55

ELON, N.C. – Down by nine points with 13 minutes left to play in the second half, the Cougars completed the comeback and held on for a 57-55 victory over Elon in their first Southern Conference game Saturday at Alumni Gym.

Junior Afreyea Tolbert led the Cougars (3-4, 1-0) with 15 points and 14 rebounds and made a key steal with six second left to help preserve the win. Senior Megan Fischer made some key baskets down the stretch and finished with 14 points for the Cougars.

The Cougars controlled much of the first half against Elon (2-3, 0-1) and went into the break up 26-24.

Elon came out strong in the second half and at the first media timeout held a 36-32 advantage. The Phoenix would stretch the lead to nine at 43-34 on an Ali Ford three-pointer.

Fischer, who had all 14 of her points in the second half came down on the next possession and knocked down a three-pointer of her own to cut the lead to six with 12:54 to play in the game.

Over the next five minutes the Cougars used a 10-3 run to take back the lead at 47-46 on a three-pointer by Fischer. A few minutes later the Cougars got a rebound and ran the break as Fischer converted a layup to push the Cougars lead to six at 55-49.

The Phoenix would not go down without a fight as they tied the game at 55 with 1:21 remaining.

On the next possession Tolbert was fouled and made one-of-two free-throws to put the Cougars up 56-55.

Elon would call a timeout with nine seconds left and still down 56-55.

The Phoenix inbounded the ball and started running the floor. As Kelsey Harris drove to the basket, Tolbert stepped in and got the steal and was fouled with six seconds left.

The Cougars went up 57-55 and held on the last Elon possession to secure the victory.

Junior point guard Jillian Brown had a career-high seven steals and the Cougars controlled the boards with a 53-39 edge on Elon. CofC had 21 offensive rebounds and 16 second chance points.

Samford 52, Wofford 46

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Samford sophomore Taylor Reece scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bulldog women’s basketball team to a 52-46 win over Wofford in the team’s Southern Conference opener Saturday afternoon in the Pete Hanna Center.

Reece made 7-of-12 shots from the floor and 2-of-3 from three-point range in the win. Behind Reece for Samford, Shelby Campbell scored 12 points. Freshman Lydia McGee, in her first collegiate start, had a career-high 11 points, four rebounds and five assists. Senior Hannah Dawson had nine points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs.

For Wofford, Morgan Wrightson had 13 points. Daniella Motley had 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Logan Morris added six points for the Terriers.

Samford raced out to an early 11-2 lead with 16:14 to go in the first half after a jumper by Campbell. Wofford fought back to tie the score at 14-14 with 9:03 left in the opening half after a layup by Jordan Frazier.

Samford scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 22-16 lead with 5:27 to go after a three-pointer by Reece. Wofford cut the lead to four points at 24-20, but Samford finished the half on a 9-2 run to take a 33-22 lead into halftime.

Wofford scored the first four points of the second half to cut the Samford lead to seven at 33-26 with 17:47 left in the game after a layup by Motley. Samford scored nine of the next 12 points to push its lead out to 13 points at 42-29 with 10:31 left in the game after a three-pointer by Campbell.

With Samford leading, 44-31, Wofford went on an 8-0 run to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to five points and 44-39 with 3:40 to go after a layup by Motley. The Terriers closed to within four points at 45-41, but a layup by Dawson and a three-pointer by McGee pushed the Samford lead back out to nine points at 50-41 with 54 seconds to go.

The Terriers again closed to within four points at 50-46 with 24 seconds left in the contest. McGee, however, made a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to make the final score 52-46.

With the win, Samford improves to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in Southern Conference play. Wofford drops to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in league play.

Davidson 61, Georgia Southern 49

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Sophia Aleksandravicius registered game highs of 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks in leading the Davidson Wildcats to a home and Southern Conference-opening 61-49 win against Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon at John M. Belk Arena in women’s basketball action.

The 6-foot-5 senior dominated down on the blocks, hitting a season-best 10 field goals on her way to a season-high 24 points. She scored 14 points and picked up six of her eight blocks in the second half alone.

The double-double was Aleksandracivius’ second in a row, third of the season and 33rd of her career. Her 20-point outing was the first of the year and 19th of her career, while her eight blocks were just one off her single-game school record nine she set last year.

Davidson (2-4 1-0 SoCon) led by as many 15 points three different times in the second period after taking a 30-21 lead into the break. Aleksandravicius twice gave the Wildcats its biggest lead at 48-33 and 50-35 on turn-around jumpers at the 9:41 and 6:19 marks.

MiMi Dubose paced the Eagles (1-3, 0-1 SoCon) with 21 points, hitting 8-of-14 shots with four of them coming from behind the arc. She also hauled in a team-best seven boards in helping the Eagles pull in 47 total rebounds.

Dubose got the Eagles to within nine after a trey from the wing to make it 54-45 with 3:53 remaining. But, sophomore Shannon Eriksson answer that triple with one of her own on the Wildcats’ next possession and the lead never went below 10 the rest of the way.

Eriksson was one of six ‘Cats to score five or more points in the game. Dakota Dukes teamed with Aleksandravciuis on the blocks for six points and season highs of seven boards and three assists.

Up 12-10 with 12:20 left in the first half after the Eagles’ Meredyth Frye hit a three-pointer to cut the Wildcat lead to two, Hannah Early sparked an 13-4 run over the next seven minutes with a triple of her own and the lead grew to 25-14. Aleksandravicius scored four points and Jasmine Calin swished home a pair of free throws during the run. Calin scored all seven of her points in the first half.

The Wildcat defense was solid, holding GSU to 33.3 percent shooting, while forcing 17 turnovers andturning those into 25 points.

Davidson stays at home and will host High Point Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men’s team.

Western Carolina 47, UNCG 44

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina women’s basketball opened Southern Conference play with a 47-44 victory over visiting UNCG (1-4, 0-1 SoCon) Saturday in the Ramsey Center to even its overall record to 3-3 and start 1-0 in conference.

The Catamounts have been relying on its stalwart defense in the opening salvo of the season and the pressure paid off against a scrappy Spartan team. Leading by one, 45-44, with 19 seconds remaining, Western Carolina benefitted from junior forward Shauna Terry’s blocking prowess to stuff UNCG’s attempt to re-claim the lead.

UNCG’s Sidnei Harmon attempted a jumper, but Terry was there to block the ball. Freshman guard Lindsay Simpson picked up the rebound setting up a pair of free throws to ice the game. Junior guard Kristen Lyon was fouled by the Spartan’s Breonna Patterson, near mid-court, and was sent to the free throw line for a one-and-one opportunity.

Western Carolina, as a team had struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 7-of-14, prior to Lyon going to the charity stripe. Lyon had no problems zeroing in on the basket, draining both free throws, to ice the game.

The Catamounts led at the half, 26-21, and enjoyed the scoring advantage over UNCG for most of the second half. The Spartans went on a 9-2 run, from the 7:33 mark to 2:34 remaining, to build a 44-41 lead over Western Carolina.

Western Carolina junior guard Ali Lane hit back-to-back jumpers to give the lead back to the Catamounts. Lane pulled WCU within one, 44-43, on a field goal with 2:06 remaining. After a steal by junior Alex Abraham, Lane gave the Catamounts the lead for good with she hit a bucket with 19 seconds left in the game. Lane finished the game with 11 points.

Western Carolina had a season-best 42 rebounds against UNCG, 32 on the defensive side. The Catamounts did commit 25 turnovers and UNCG capitalized scoring 23 points off Western Carolina miscues.

Redshirt senior Diamond Hunnicutt also had 11 points in the contest. It was the third time this season she has scored in double figures. Simpson continues to provide a spark off the bench for Western Carolina as she had six points and four rebounds in the contest.

Terry ripped down a career-high 13 rebounds, nine on the defensive glass. She also had a season-best four blocked shots in the contest. Terry now has 76 career blocks, ranking her fifth in the Catamount career record books. She needs seven blocks to move into fourth place.

Western Carolina hosts Elon at noon Monday as part of women’s basketball’s annual “Education Day” event, with over 800 area school children attending the game.

Chattanooga 83, Furman 40

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Furman’s leading scorer Teshia Griswold drained a 3-pointer in the opening seconds against the Lady Mocs for a quick 3-0 lead, but it would be the only one the Paladins would get as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga claimed an 83-40 win in Southern Conference women’s basketball action and its 17th straight home court win.

Chattanooga improves to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play while the Paladins even out their record at 3-3 and 0-1 in the SoCon. UTC junior Ashlen Dewart topped the 20-point mark for the second straight game and the third time out of the last four games, led the Lady Mocs to the win with a game-high 21 points and added seven rebounds, three offensive and was 3-of-3 from the free throw line.

Junior Alex Black tied her season-high with 14 points, making 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, 6-of-8 from the field and matched her career-high for steals with three. Senior Kayla Christopher scored in double figures for the fifth time this season with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting with two steals and two assists. Junior Taylor Hall pulled down a game-best eight rebounds and dished out a career-high seven assists while recording two blocked shots and two steals.

After the Paladins opening 3-pointer, Chattanooga’s Dewart, Black and Christopher combined for a 7-0 run to take the lead. Furman managed to knot it up twice with the last at 9-9 on a layup from Janice Roberts at the 16:13 mark of the first half, but Dewart would kick it into overdrive. The Spartanburg, S.C., native scored nine of Chattanooga’s points in a 13-2 run to give the Lady Mocs their first double-digit lead of the game at 22-11 with 11:01 to go in the opening stanza.

Furman responded with a couple of quick layups to cut the lead back to 22-15, but that’s the closes the game would get as Chattanooga closed out the first half outscoring the Paladins 20-13 to lead 44-28 at the half.

Chattanooga scored the final five points of the first half and continued its roll at the start of the second half reeling off the first 15 points of the period with five steals to take a 31-point lead, the largest of the game at that point, 59-28 with 14:31 to play.

The Lady Mocs allowed just 12 points from Furman in the second half and held the Paladins to just two field goals on 23 tries (8.7%). Furman was 8-of-12 from the free throw line in the second half and 11-of-15 for the game.

Chattanooga was 33-of-59 from the field (55.9%), its best shooting percentage of the year, and was 12-of-18 from the free throw line. Sophomore Kayla Freeman (Carlton, Ga.) scored a career-high seven points sinking seven of her eight attempts from the charity stripe.

Chattanooga had 18 assists to 15 turnovers and 16 steals led by Black’s three and forced 21 Furman turnovers. In the paint, the Lady Mocs outscored Furman 46-16 and had 29 points off turnovers compared to the Paladins’ nine.

UTC won the rebounding battle for the second straight game, 45-27 and had 17 offensive rebounds that translated into 15 second chance points compared to Furman’s 10 off 16 offensive rebounds. The Lady Mocs had 12 fastbreak points and the bench outscored the Paladins 26-6.

The 43-point win is Chattanooga’s second-best margin of victory over the Paladins since UTC defeated Furman 82-38 on December 9, 2008 on the road.